CVE-2025-68821
Vulnerability Scoring
Status: Awaiting Analysis
Last updated: 🕐 19 Jan 2026, 13:16 UTC
Originally published on: 🕓 13 Jan 2026, 16:16 UTC
Time between publication and last update: 5 days
CVSS Release:
CVE-2025-68821: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: fuse: fix readahead reclaim deadlock Commit e26ee4efbc79 ("fuse: allocate ff->release_args only if release is needed") skips allocating ff->release_args if the server does not implement open. However in doing so, fuse_prepare_release() now skips grabbing the reference on the inode, which makes it possible for an inode to be evicted from the dcache while there are inflight readahead requests. This causes a deadlock if the server triggers reclaim while servicing the readahead request and reclaim attempts to evict the inode of the file being read ahead. Since the folio is locked during readahead, when reclaim evicts the fuse inode and fuse_evict_inode() attempts to remove all folios associated with the inode from the page cache (truncate_inode_pages_range()), reclaim will block forever waiting for the lock since readahead cannot relinquish the lock because it is itself blocked in reclaim: >>> stack_trace(1504735) folio_wait_bit_common (mm/filemap.c:1308:4) folio_lock (./include/linux/pagemap.h:1052:3) truncate_inode_pages_range (mm/truncate.c:336:10) fuse_evict_inode (fs/fuse/inode.c:161:2) evict (fs/inode.c:704:3) dentry_unlink_inode (fs/dcache.c:412:3) __dentry_kill (fs/dcache.c:615:3) shrink_kill (fs/dcache.c:1060:12) shrink_dentry_list (fs/dcache.c:1087:3) prune_dcache_sb (fs/dcache.c:1168:2) super_cache_scan (fs/super.c:221:10) do_shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:435:9) shrink_slab (mm/shrinker.c:626:10) shrink_node (mm/vmscan.c:5951:2) shrink_zones (mm/vmscan.c:6195:3) do_try_to_free_pages (mm/vmscan.c:6257:3) do_swap_page (mm/memory.c:4136:11) handle_pte_fault (mm/memory.c:5562:10) handle_mm_fault (mm/memory.c:5870:9) do_user_addr_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1338:10) handle_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1481:3) exc_page_fault (arch/x86/mm/fault.c:1539:2) asm_exc_page_fault+0x22/0x27 Fix this deadlock by allocating ff->release_args and grabbing the reference on the inode when preparing the file for release even if the server does not implement open. The inode reference will be dropped when the last reference on the fuse file is dropped (see fuse_file_put() -> fuse_release_end()).
The exploitability of CVE-2025-68821 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).
No exploitability data is available for CVE-2025-68821.
A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.
Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.
Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.
Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2025-68821, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.
Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2025-68821, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.
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